Overview

Students will work through a simulation of the discussions leading to the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. After completing their unit on the First World War, the students will present the positions of country representatives at the simulated conference through the six months of 1919. In groups, they will present and argue their positions depending on their national perspectives (i.e. USA, UK, France, etc.). Each student will then write a brief article...

Overview

The aim of this lesson plan is to develop the concept of citizenship and immigration by requiring students to explore, reflect, and empathize with the situations and feelings that new immigrants experience. Students will be required to produce a short dramatization to demonstrate this. Students will explore what it would feel like to be an immigrant coming into Canada. They will explore different real life situations and empathize with the frustrations, excitement, and realities of...

Overview

In this lesson students recognize symbols as Canadian, they present their significance, and find its place in the Coat of Arms of Canada.

Aims

To familiarize students with symbols and what they represent, to develop an awareness of self, group, and Canada.

Students will:

- Research the significance of symbols found in the Arms of Canada.- Develop research skills to investigate the meaning of each symbol.- Present orally the findings of their research.- Locate the position of each...

Overview

This lesson examines social attitudes towards East Asians in the early 1900s in British Columbia and Canada. The arrival of the Komagata Maru in Vancouver harbour in 1914 challenges the Canadian government’s continuous passage rule.

Background

"Komagata Maru, a Japanese-owned freighter chartered out of Hong Kong in April 1914 by 376 Punjabis, mostly SIKHS, bound for Canada. At the time, East Indians were kept out of Canada by an order-in-council requiring them to come to Canada by...

Overview

This lesson explores intolerance in historic and contemporary Canada through primary and secondary source analysis. It aims to foster citizenship and education through the production of a fictional Public Service Announcement and/or journal entry.

Aims

- Inquire into examples of intolerance in Canadian societies and to anticipate future examples of intolerance- Develop skills in document analysis and critical thinking- Foster citizenship and an understanding of the rights and...

Overview

In April 2001 and again in February 2007 a storm of controversy erupted in the press of the province British Columbia. This lesson reflects on that controversy and encourages students to engage with the information in different ways.

"By studying historic artifacts of all people, the important and the unimportant alike citizens have a stronger foundation for understanding how and why the past tells us a great deal about the present and the future. All history is selective and...

Overview

This lesson is based on viewing the John Ware biography from The Canadians series. John Ware remains a prominent figure in Canadian history. As a former slave from the American South who transplanted himself in Southern Alberta's range country, he triumphed over prejudice and discrimination to become a legend of the Canadian West.

Aims

Students will use the life of John Ware as a starting point to investigate several themes. The following activities focus on African-Canadian...

Overview

Students will learn about the harsh treatment of Canadian immigrants and the selective nature of Canadian immigration policies during the first half of the twentieth century by researching one of the following events:

- the Chinese Exclusion Act- the Komagata Maru incident- the SS. St Louis affair- the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War

Students will then prepare a case that they will present before a mock tribunal of the Canadian Human Rights Commission....

Overview

Have your students explore the Japanese Canadian experience in Canada in the twentieth century through sports. Students will examine the remarkable story of the Asahi baseball team as a window into this history. Students will be asked to use primary source material and explore the concepts of continuity and change in history.

Overview

The public has long been fascinated with cemeteries. This program will make use of this fascination to engage the students while they learn. Cemeteries can be primary sources of information for much more than just social studies. This program will make use of the information available in local cemeteries to meet aspects of the mathematics curriculum.

Aims

Students will collect primary data found on the headstones and organize the data. Students will make use of a variety of methods...

Overview

The student will create a document demonstrating empathy with the experiences of immigrants to Canada.

Activities

Time Allowance: 3 hours

Procedures:

Activity: An Immigrant’s Letter Home

OutcomeThe student will create a document demonstrating empathy with the experiences of immigrants to Canada.ContentImmigrants underwent a variety of experiences as they adjusted to life in a new land. Many would never return to their countries of origin, and their only contact with family was through...

Overview

Nearly every Canadian can trace their family tree back to an ancestor who immigrated to Canada at some point. Somewhere back in time, most of us have a homeland from which our forefathers, fathers, or selves immigrated. For what reasons did they immigrate and what method did that immigration take?

How long ago the immigration took place may dictate the mode of travel. If the ancestors arrived many generations ago the method of travel was likely limited to boats. Later arrivals may...